Need some help deciding on a camera

[tips]

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Budget - Less than $200

Size - Portable, Compact, Small

Megapixels - 5 or greater

Optical zoom - Doesn't matter

Image Quality - 8-9

Manual Controls - Would be nice, but not necessary

Generally use the camera for? Everyday usage. Events, friends, etc.

Big prints? - no

Indoor photos or low light photos? Sometimes, most likely no.

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? Probably. A lot of motion.

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? Sony and Samsung and Canon.

Are there particular models you already have in mind? Saumsung nv3.

[mjsneddon]

You should consider the Canon SD1000. It is, I believe, the smallest digital camera you get get. And, because it has been out for a while, you can find it on sale for $170 or less. It is extremely easy to use. It does not offer a lot of features - especially not much in the way of manual control. But it does have an optical viewfinder which most subcompact cameras have left in the past.

Just my opinion.

[tfa8rva]

I'll second what Mike said. Nice "bang for your buck" camera, but it's not much for action shots.

[David Metsky]

Ultracompacts and action shots aren't great if you want to get close to the action. They don't have much zoom so you have to rely on the action getting close to you. That's OK for some things, not so good for spectator sports.

Here's a shot with my SD800. You should be able to do similar things with the SD1000.
http://www.hikethewhites.com/jay4/reny02a.jpg

[KCook]

Very nice shot David!

For action/sports I would want a viewfinder. In a sub-$200 compact that pretty well shuts the brand choice down to Canon, Nikon, and Sony.

Kelly Cook